Exclusive:Scottish Government has presided over 'dysfunction and drift' in bleak appraisal of skills sector
Scotland’s skills and training system is failing to meet modern needs, Gordon Brown’s think tank has claimed.
The SNP government has presided over a skills and training system of “drift and dysfunction” that has failed to meet the needs of a rapidly changing economy, a new report finds.
Ministers have been accused of all talk and no action as experts identify multiple government-ordered skills reviews that have never been implemented - and millions of pounds in funding streams that have been cancelled.
Commissioned by Gordon Brown’s think tank Our Scottish Future, the report calls for an urgent shake up to cut out bureaucracy and deliver the skills employers need.
READ MORE: Scathing report from Gordon Brown’s think tank warns SNP government ‘struggles to deliver’
Painting a bleak picture of a college sector under strain, a school system with diminishing standards and universities facing financial cuts, the think tank calls on the next Holyrood government to take urgent action on education.
It sets out steps that could be taken quickly to improve skills and training delivery to boost outcomes across the sector.
Report co-author Alastair Sim said training is vital, or “Scotland cannot secure its future prosperity”.
“But the Scottish Government’s fixation with fiddling around with public sector reorganisation is holding the nation back from having practical policies that help people and enterprises to get the skills they need quickly,” he added.
The report, Agile Skills for a Changing Economy, outlines multiple government-commissioned skills reviews that had no obvious outcome or benefit.
Mr Sim and his fellow author Daniel Turner found that ministers focus too closely on public sector structures rather than practical, frontline support.
The report follows the think tank’s Fixing Broken Government review, published earlier this month, which set out how government in Scotland has become mired in a cycle of announcements rather than achievements.
Agile Skills focuses on education delivery and identifies five funding streams worth millions of pounds that have been abolished or redirected.
Mr Sim said: “There are particular issues in Scotland of having a government that's all about announcing things but has very poor implementation.
“It publishes strategies every week, but it doesn't seem to achieve very much.
“We’re saying we've got to have a reset of government to be much, much more focused on delivery and have more sources of initiative at regional level, at company level, at college and university level, rather than a sort of sclerotic government trying to control everything.”
While larger employers in Scotland contribute around £270 million a year through the UK Apprenticeship Levy, up to £171m of this levy funding has been absorbed into the wider Scottish Government budget over recent years.
Industry leaders have expressed concerns that this money should have been used to fund workforce development.
Programs like the Flexible Workforce Development Fund, Individual Training Accounts, and National Transition Training Fund have been discontinued.
The gap between skills supply and demand, the report says, is being made worse by a funding crisis in Scotland’s colleges sector, a shortfall of around 8,500 funded apprenticeships, and a severe lack of new apprenticeships designed to meet modern industry needs.
Our Scottish Future calls on political parties to commit to resolving the issue in their manifestos by pledging a lifelong learning guarantee.
“A lifelong learning guarantee, backed by government support for upskilling and reskilling, is essential to ensure everyone can access education and training that prepares them for a rapidly changing economy,” Mr Sim added.
“Without this, future economic growth risks being lost.”
Modern Apprenticeship starts have declined since 2019, with demand exceeding supply by 25 per cent.
The think tank also says the Scottish Government should use the proceeds of the Apprenticeship Levy and the forthcoming Growth and Skills Levy for skills development.
It claims this would release around £50 to 60m per year back into Scotland’s apprenticeship system.
Mr Sim said: “Money is tight from government, but there are more creative ways of using it, particularly if you can design ways that blend government funding with contributions from a company and contributions from an individual.
“It will be important to try to think creatively about how to make public money go as far as it can by not expecting everything to be completely publicly funded.”
The think tank also suggests longer terms plans such as a new technical ‘S-Level’ co-designed with businesses to create a skills pipeline for rapidly expanding Scottish enterprises.
Mr Turner added: “Scotland has talked about skills for long enough.
“The next Scottish Government needs to turn words into action. That begins with delivering existing commitments, putting individual learners, businesses and regional leaders in the driver’s seat and releasing more money to where it’s needed today.
And it means preparing the ground for deeper reforms, so that empowered, confident communities across Scotland can thrive in the years ahead.”
A spokesman from Colleges Scotland said: “This timely report shows the urgent need for investment in our college sector.
“If we want to have a growing, innovative economy, the Scottish Government must put the skills and training delivered by colleges front and centre.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the government is already delivering a “multi-year transformational programme to reform the post-school education and skills system, making it simpler, more responsive and agile”.
“Careers support will also be improved and we will create new national skills planning, together with strengthening regional skills planning,” she added.
“Additionally, we are taking targeted action to meet urgent skills needs in sectors like offshore wind, social care, engineering and advanced manufacturing.”
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